1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for uniquely mounting an electronically-readable/writable monitoring module, such as a customer replaceable unit monitor (CRUM), associated with a rotatable customer replaceable component or unit (CRU) in a manner that renders the monitoring module stationary in operation relative to a monitoring module reader in an operating device, including an image forming device, without restricting rotation of the rotatable CRU.
2. Related Art
Virtually all classes of operating devices, and particularly image forming devices, include one or more customer replaceable components or units (CRUs). Many of these CRUs are routinely replaceable based on an indication of an end of service life condition for the CRUs, or exhaustion of consumable products, such as ink and toner in image forming devices, packaged in the CRUs. The service life of a particular CRU, or the consumable product level in the CRU, can be tracked and measured, for example, according to a number of operations that the CRU may undertake in the operating device. For the purposes of this disclosure, the terms of CRU and consumable may be used interchangeably.
Image forming devices make extensive beneficial use of a capacity to externally monitor the status of the one or more CRUs in the image forming devices. The monitoring of the CRUs is often implemented by way of an electronically-readable monitoring module associated with the CRU for tracking and/or reporting one or more characteristics of the CRU that is read by a compatible monitoring module reader mounted in the image forming device in which the CRU is installed for use. The monitored one or more characteristics can include static information, i.e., information that does not change over the usable service life of the CRU, such as a model or serial number and/or an indicator of compatibility of the CRU with the image forming device within which the CRU is installed for use. The monitoring module can also be used to record, via the compatible monitoring module reader when operated in a write mode, dynamically changing information relating to a particular characteristic of the CRU in an electronically-readable format. Such dynamic characteristic information may include, for example, information on use, maintenance, failures, diagnostics, remanufacture, remaining service life or remaining consumable level(s), among other characteristics, of the CRU.
Outputs from these monitoring modules are received locally, via the compatible monitoring module reader, by circuitry in the image forming devices that implements reading from and writing to the monitoring modules. A user may be presented with information regarding the outputs from these monitoring modules at the device via some manner of graphical user interface (GUI) associated with the image forming device within which the CRU is installed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,621 to Richards et al., which is commonly assigned and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses CRUs that are augmented with electronically-readable/writable monitoring chips containing static information for identification of the CRU, and/or dynamic information relating to an operating status of the CRU. Richards et al. refer to such electronically-readable/writable monitoring chips as customer replaceable unit monitors or CRUMs.
Richards et al. explain that, when an individual CRU is installed in an image forming device, communication is established with the CRUM located within, or externally mounted to, the individual CRU. The CRUM enables the image forming device to track one or more characteristics of the CRU by reading data from, and potentially updating the information contained by writing data to, the CRUM.